


Free Kittens to a Good Home

by linatrinch



Series: Stormpilot Tumblr Prompts [22]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Mentions of Animal Cruelty, there's some cats though, very little fluffy romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 00:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10933488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/linatrinch/pseuds/linatrinch
Summary: anon requested, "someone left a box of loth-cat kittens in front of the base."





	Free Kittens to a Good Home

**Author's Note:**

> Finn already had his story prepared, though he hoped no one would find out enough to ask. The official story was that he had no idea this had happened and that he'd never seen them before in his life. The base was old. Perhaps they had come through the vents or an open window or an old crack in the wall meant for cleaning droids. But since he was a good sport, he would totally handle the aftermath and fix it right up, no problem, don't wait up.

The unofficial and slightly more truthful story is a little different. Finn had been helping some techs get a few tanks of fuel across base and into the main hangar. It was nothing major, but it was still an all hands on deck situation. He happened to have nothing better to do, so Finn went along to help. Nothing to it.

The problem began just as they finished. “You hear that?” Finn asked, turning to look out the massive open doors of the hangar bay. He was trained to pick up the slightest off-beat noises of his surroundings and had been paying special interest to that idea lately. After all, some people in the Resistance didn't like a _bucket head_ among their ranks very much. But this was different.

Bastian turned around from where he was just finishing up strapping down a tank. “Hear what?”

Finn was silent, listening intently, but nothing else happened. “Thought I heard something.”

The pilot just laughed at him, closing the hatch doors to the storage room. “There goes that Stormtrooper paranoia again.”

“Maybe,” Finn frowned, not turning away from the open doors. He did seem more on edge than most people around the Resistance. “I think I'm gonna go check it out.”

“And I'm going to go get some lunch,” Bastian announced, clapping Finn on the shoulder. “Thanks for helping out the techs, man.”

He hummed in acknowledgment and started making his way to the outside, more concerned with the noise than with food. Only after he was outside of the doors did he hear the sound again, which just brought back his earlier confusion. It sounded more like a squeak than anything else. Not at all like a footfall or a droid. Perhaps it _was_ a droid in distress, though?

Finn followed the sound, keeping alert on everything around him. It didn't take long for him to spot a difference in the terrain. Out in the tall grass, near a tree providing plenty of shade, was a box... The sound was coming from the box.

He stepped forward enough to glance over the top, finding something _moving_ inside. Several somethings. Wiggling fluffy somethings. Wiggling fluffy _screaming_ somethings. One of them peered at him with large black eyes, opened its mouth to show off its very sharp row of teeth, and let out a tiny shriek that felt a lot more direct that the previous squeaks.

Not feeling deterred (they were small, right?), he stepped closer to kneel in the grass. They were fluffy little things, speckled in black and white and yellow patterns. The all had four legs and a tail each, pointy ears that stood up straight, and... claws. Each foot had claws.

They looked dangerous. But they were so small... His classes back in the First Order had an extensive list of the flora and fauna of the galaxy, but the months since Finn had been with the Resistance proved that the Order only taught about the ones that could kill or aid you. All of the harmless stuff had been left off record, drilling the 'troopers into just killing something if they didn't understand it.

So if the Order didn't teach about these little things, then it stood to reason that they were potentially harmless. Right?

Another shrieked at him, and Finn found himself shushing it. His conclusion also stands to reason that they aren't useful. And if they aren't useful or harmless, then they'll just get in the way. A lot of important work happened in the Resistance. These little guys could get hurt or, worse, unintentionally cause an accident to hurt someone else.

Useless things were worthless. And if they were worthless-

Another shrieked at him. “Shush! I'm trying to think!” The Resistance had compassion, but they also had common sense. The little things wouldn't be allowed to live. After all, they were just tiny little animals. No one would really care.

 _Another_ shrieked at him. “Okay! Okay. Okay, okay. It's okay. We'll figure this out.” He quickly counted them and tried to memorize how the five critters differed from one another. It was crucial to keep track of them. “I have an idea. Kind of.” A quick glance around proved that no one was out there, likely all gone to the mess hall. It was perfect. There wouldn't be a better opportunity. But the box would give him away.

Finn tucked Poe's- _his_ jacket closer and zipped it up to right over his stomach. If he didn't get too close to anyone on the way, this could work. And he was wearing two shirts, so hopefully the claws and teeth wouldn't be a huge problem, at least not enough to call attention to himself.

No one else would care if the little things were killed, but _he_ would. It wasn't so long ago that he was a useless little stray, too, also dangerous and easily frightened others. He knew what the other side felt like and he knew what it was like to find someone to care enough to help. He would be a hypocrite to turn his back now.

“Please don't hurt me,” Finn muttered, picking one of them up gently around the midriff. It didn't much care about being manhandled and screamed the whole time he packed the little thing into his jacket. The claws dug in, making him wince, but at least he knew the animal was secure.

He carefully continued until all five were nestled into his jacket and he zipped it all the way up. The only problem was that some of them were still making the little screams, especially the first one down near his waist. The one closer to his right shoulder seemed to have no idea how to stay still.

This idea was going to be more difficult to pull off than he thought...

Still, Finn slowly stood, holding the jacket close around him. They had plenty of air and the warmth of the jacket was probably a blessing, so he chalked their complaints up to fear of the unknown, and tried to _casually_ race to his room before anyone could see.

The sign on the other side of the box facing the mess hall that read _“FREE KITTENS”_ was totally missed by him.

* * *

Finn never showed up for lunch.

Which was fine. If he wasn't hungry, it wasn't Poe's job to police that. He was a grown man, after all. If he was hungry, he would go eat. It was that simple. Just because he didn't show up didn't mean anything other than he just wasn't hungry. That's all. He could do that if he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted, anything he wanted. It didn't matter. Poe didn't care. He was fine.

“Hey, buddy,” Poe knocked on Finn's door, letting himself in the room. “You didn't come to lunch and you weren't in the hang-”

Finn _was_ there, standing in the middle of the room, eyes wide like he'd been caught. Doing what, Poe had no idea. Also, his arms were wrapped around his torso, jacket zipped up to below his chin... Wait.

Poe frowned. “Is it your back? Are you still in pain? Bastian told me you helped the guys today. If it's too much, you don't have to-”

“No, no, no. It's not-” Finn took a step back and shifted from foot to foot. “I was just- I'm busy. I was just busy. Did you need something? What did you need?”

“I don't _need_ anything. I was just looking-” Poe sneezed, hard. It came on so fast that he had no way around it. It felt like his sinuses temporarily invaded his nostrils. “I-” He sneezed again, not _as_ hard, and took a deep breath.

“Poe?”

He looked up to find Finn's eyes wide and full of worry. The pilot waved his hands. “Oh, no. No, I'm fine. I'm all right. Just a sneeah-... Wait, no, I'm oka-” He sneezed again. “I'm okay. I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?” Finn took a small step towards him, like he was torn between trying to help and trying to hide.

Poe stayed silent for a second, trying to fend off another sneeze before it let loose, but a sound pierced through the quiet. Then another. And Finn took a few steps back.

“Buddy, why-” Poe sneezed again, his eyes starting to water, before he looked back up to his friend. “Why is your jacket moving?”

“It's not moving,” Finn frantically tried to claim, putting a hand against his wiggling shoulder. This allowed the bulge around his ribcage to fall a few inches, which in turn made Finn yelp and jerk. A kitten took the opportunity to peek it's head out from the jacket's collar, meowing loudly at Finn.

“Finn.”

“There was a crack in the wall!” his friend all but yelled, eyes wide. “For the droids and this place is old and-” The kitten meowed again.

“They're from the box outside of the hangar, aren't they?”

Finn stared at him, glancing back and forth between himself and the door and Poe, before finally asking, “You knew?”

“Jess-” Poe sneezed again, pinching the bridge of his nose. He sniffled and tried again. “Jess already got one. I think a refugee put them there, but they must have left on a transport without them by now. How, uh- How many you got there, buddy?”

Finn glanced around again, clearly worried. “Five.”

“Five?” Poe laughed. The kitten with the head sticking out looked over at him and meowed. “Aww, look at you. Come he-” He sneezed mid-stride, stopping a second to groan, then perked up and reached out to pet the kitten's soft fur.

“Poe, what's wrong with you?”

He laughed again, trying to calm Finn's nerves down a little more. “I'm just a little allergic to loth-cats. That's all.”

“Loth-cats,” he repeated, like it was the first time hearing the word, then the rest of it registered. “Wait, you're allergic to them? Oh, Poe, I'm sorry. I'll- I'll go handle it. Please don't tell-”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on.” Poe grabbed Finn by the waist to steady him, but one hand fell on something soft beneath the jacket that swatted back at him. “Okay, priorities. Let's get them reacquainted with the ground. Okay, buddy?”

“You- You're sure? I mean-”

“I'm okay,” Poe said walking back to the door so as to close it and make sure they couldn't escape. Just as the door was closing, BB-8 shot in and began demanding where Poe had vanished off to without him.

Finn sat on the floor and unzipped the jacket, BB's blatting coming to a sudden halt at the sight before letting out a loud squeal. As each kitten was detached from Finn's sweater and set on the floor, they began padding around, still whining now and again, as BB coo'd and herded them around together.

Poe sat beside Finn, rubbing hard at his nose. “Okay,” he began, voice already sounding stuffy, “what's going on?”

“I was afraid they'd be killed,” Finn sighed, leaning back against the wall. “I was afraid they would hinder the Resistance and someone would kill them. I thought if I tried to hide them and take care of them, it would be okay... I didn't realize they could hurt people or make them sick. I didn't know they would hurt you. They aren't safe to have here, after all.”

“Hey, hey,” Poe interrupted, sniffled again, and tried to explain. “Not everyone's allergic to them. And they aren't _hurting_ me. I'm okay. Just need some meds and it'll be fine. They're not, like, going to kill me or something.” He scratched the back of his head. “I think I should explain what pets are a little bit.”

So, in between sneezes, Poe told Finn about Roxy, the little loth-cat that his parents had when he was young. Once they realized that he was allergic, Roxy became an outside cat, but he stressed that they didn't _kill_ her. He explained that lots of people had pets, that no animal was useless, and nothing was so worthless as to warrant death. Maybe at the First Order, but that's not how the Resistance handled things.

“I could keep them,” Finn said slowly, like it was just dawning on him.

And it was, and Poe hated the First Order a little bit more. “Yeah, buddy. Though, five _is_ a lot to take care of. Even BB-8's having trouble.” True enough, the little droid found himself cornered by the cats instead of the other way around.

“And you're allergic,” Finn added.

Poe blinked. “Yeah, but this is your room. A whole room to yourself, you know? You can do whatever you want in here.”

“I don't want you to stop visiting,” Finn sighed, “and I don't want you to get allergic to _me_.”

The pilot laughed. “It'll take a lot more than a few cats to keep me away, buddy.”

Finn gave back a tiny smile before sighing again. “They have to go... but I can't just leave them in that box.”

“I got an idea.”

* * *

A few hours later, Finn had given Karé, Kaydel, Bastian, and even the General a kitten, but it had been awhile before they found any takers for the last one.

Finn was actually kind of getting upset about it. Who couldn't look in that face and fall absolutely in love? How could no one want to love and care for it as much as Finn wanted to? He couldn't bring it back to the _box_.

“Finn, buddy.” Poe had laughter in his eyes know instead of tears. They had stopped by the medbay early on in the search, and whatever Kalonia had given him seemed to make all of the allergy symptoms stop. “It's okay. You can keep it if you want. You won't see less of me.”

“I don't want to hurt you, Poe.”

“You're _not_ hurting me, buddy,” he argued, blocking Finn's path and making them both stop walking. “I know you wanna keep him. And everyone else knows, too, actually. That's probably why no one's taken you up on the offer.”

Finn looked down at the kitten sleeping in the cradle of his arms. It _had_ been a long day. “You sure?”

“I _promise_ ,” Poe swore, stepping closer. “What are you gonna name him?”

“I don't know,” he admitted. “That's important. I'll have to think about it.” Though it only took a few seconds for Poe to come up with _Finn's_ name...

Poe laughed again, steering Finn in another direction. “Come on. Whatever you decide, he still needs to eat.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not one of my best works. Check out [Follow me Home](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6053674) by Indoissetep for a way better experience. Thanks, anyway!


End file.
